| Tocharian A | |
|---|---|
| Tokharian A, Eastern Tocharian, Agnean, Karashahrian, Turfanian[1] | |
| tkaṃ | |
 Tocharian inscription "This Buddha was painted by the hand of Sanketava" | |
| Native to | Karasahr andTurfan |
| Region | Tarim Basin |
| Ethnicity | Tocharians |
| Extinct | 850 AD[2] |
Indo-European
| |
Early form | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xto |
xto | |
| Glottolog | tokh1242 |
| IETF | xto |
 Tocharian languages A (blue), B (red) and C (green) in the Tarim Basin.[3] Tarim oasis towns are given as listed in theBook of Han (c. 2nd century BC), with the areas of the squares proportional to population.[4] | |
 Diachronic map showing the centum (blue) and satem (red) groups ofIndo-European languages.Tocharian, on the right (East), is part of the centum group which initially formed acontinuum, before the "satemization" appeared in theEurasian Steppe.[5] | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Tocharian A, also known asTokharian A,Eastern Tocharian,Agnean (tkaṃ),[6]Karashahrian orTurfanian[1] is a dead language that was in use in the 1st millennium AD in theKarashahr andTurfan region of theTarim Basin, present-dayXinjiang,Western China. First discovered fromBuddhist texts dating back to around the 7th century AD,[7] it coexisted with a related language,Tocharian B that together possibly withTocharian C form theTocharian branch of theIndo-European languages. This language was notably used in whatChina'sHan dynasty then called the Kiu-che Kingdom (known as theKushan Empire).[8] It is believed that Tocharian A died out with the other Tocharian languages when theUyghurs and theYenisei Kyrgyz moved into theTarim Basin.[9]
Tocharian A is known from around the 2000 manuscripts found.[10] From these series of texts which are majority Buddhist liturgical texts are transcribed in a script derived fromBrahmi. Unlike Tocharian B, there are no secular texts in Tocharian A. One possible explanation is that at the time these texts were written, Tocharian A survived only as aliturgical language and Tocharian B would still have been a living language.[9]
Another hypothesis, however, is that this absence is simply explained by the very fragmentary attestation of Tocharian languages in general.
From the work ofGeorges-Jean Pinault and Melanie Malzahn in 2007, it is now recognized that it was also a living, spoken language.[11]
The Tocharian A word for horse (yuk) is declined as follows:[12]
| Case | Tocharian A | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Suffix | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | — | yuk | yukañ |
| Genitive | — | yukes | yukāśśi |
| Oblique | — | yuk | yukas |
| Instrumental | -yo | yukyo | yukasyo |
| Perlative | -ā | yukā | yukasā |
| Comitative | -aśśäl | yukaśśäl | yukasaśśäl |
| Allative | -ac | yukac | yukasac |
| Ablative | -äṣ | yukäṣ | yukasäṣ |
| Locative | -aṃ | yukaṃ | yukasaṃ |
One of the innovations of Tocharian A is the presence of a sibilant consonantṣ.[13]
The following are some examples of Tocharian A words with English words:[14]
| English | Tocharian A |
|---|---|
| always | skam |
| art | amok |
| away | lo |
| beyond | pät |
| cattle | śemäl |
| come | käm |
| despicable | appärmāt |
| enemy | yäslu |
| few | tsru |
| gift | el |
| go | kälk |
| god | ñkät |
| island | praṅk |
| lotus | oppal |
| net | sopi |
| or | pat |
| part | pāk |
| ready | ārṣal |
| root | tsmār |
| say | träṅk |
| serpent | ārwar |
| son | se |
| time | praṣt |
| water | wär |
The following is also a comparison of some numbers in Tocharian A and other Indo-European languages:[15]
| English | Tocharian A | Spanish | French | German | Persian | Armenian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | sas | uno | un | eins | yak | mi |
| two | wu | dos | deux | zwei | do | erku |
| three | tre | tres | trois | drei | se | erek' |
| four | stwar | cuatro | quatre | vier | cahar | cork' |
| five | pän | cinco | cinq | fünf | panj | hing |
| six | säk | seis | six | sechs | shesh | vec |
| seven | spät | siete | sept | sieben | haft | ewt'n |
| eight | okät | ocho | huit | acht | hasht | ut |
| nine | nu | nueve | neuf | neun | noh | inn |
| ten | säk | diez | dix | zehn | dah | tasn |
| hundred | känt | ciento | cent | hundert | sad | hariwr |
TheMaitreyasamitināṭaka is a Buddhist drama about the life of theMaitreya written in Tocharian A and is the most well-known Tocharian text about Maitreya.[16] It was translated intoOld Uyghur (which is named Maitrisimit), which has been used to interpret Tocharian A. The Maitrisimit is not an exact translation as it was adapted to meet the requirements of Old Uyghur and the Maitreyasamitināṭaka was written in the campū style, which has a mixtureprose andverse.[17]
The following is one of the translations of the Tocharian A manuscript of Maitreyasamitināṭaka:[18]
klā k. SA (23 syllables) (me)trakṣināṃ opṣlyā plāc weñeñc¨ˎkāvvintu yāmeñc¨ˎ///
ñ¨[ˎ]•klyoMA[nT]ˎ (20 syllables) (k)ly(o)MAnTˎ metraKAṃ oñantyo tri ñemintwaṃ KAlymeyā spārtwe(ñc¨ˎ) ///
Pˎ metRAkyāp [w]. (18 syllables) ps. lāntuneṣi [abhi]ṣeKˎ artantRA•kus pat nu tanā SArki tu .i///
s weñeñc¨ˎ klyo(señc¨ˎ klyoMAnt metra) ◯[k]ṣ(i)nā(ṃ) plāc¨ˎ metRA(kyāPˎ) yärkanTˎ ārtantRA pālantRA anumodin yāmeñc¨ˎ pukāk ṣakk ats [c]e ///
t pi koriSˎ ṢAk-KAnTˎ (w)r(asañ¨ˎ taṃ)◯ne KAtkeñc¨ˎ kātka[ṣ PA](lketSˎ?) ārkiśoṣṣaṃ PAttāñKATˎ: śmantRA cem wrasañ¨ˎ tām praṣṭaśśä[l] ..///
kyo napeṃsaṃ : ṣo«me» metRA[ky](āPˎ) (kl)[yo]señc¨ ˎ MArkampaL*ˎ tSAlpeñc¨ˎ kloPA(ṣ ṣome?) yomneñc¨ˎ puttiśparnac¨ˎ vyākariTˎ: TAmyo metRAkyāp kā /// (PA)-
ls[k]asuntāPˎ skaMˎ skenaLˎ : 1 (4x25) || sātāgiri tRAṅKAṢˎ kāsu weñā(ṢTˎ)++Rˎ TAmyo TAṣ metRAkyāp waSA[mp]ātṣiṃ opṣlyac poñcäṃ ārki(ṣṣaṃ) ///
(purṇak)e t(RA)ṅKAṢˎ ceṣ ṣome ñäktañ¨ˎ epreRAṢˎ kāKArpuRAṢ*ˎ dak(ṣ)i(ṇāpapatha)[c]¨ˎ yiñc¨ˎ ṣome nu pāṣānak [ṣu]lac¨ˎ yiñc¨ˎ || sātā(giri tRAṅKAṢˎ dakṣiṇāpathˎ KAlymeyaṃ bādhari prāmne)
extinct since 850